The Ciannachta were a population group of early historic Ireland. They claimed descent from the legendary figure Tadc mac Cein. They first appear in historical sources in the 6th century, and were found in several parts of the island, including in Brega and Tír Eoghain. The Ciannachta groups were absorbed over time.

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Background

The Ciannachta claimed descend from Tadc mac Cein, a member of "the possibly legendary early Munster dynasty, who was said to be a grandson of Ailill Aulomm. Tadc was also the putative ancestor of Luigni and Gailenga – peoples which were located in a number of centres in the midlands and the west of Ireland".[1] The acquisition, by Tadc, of the territory held by his descendants in Brega is related in the possibly late ninth-century saga, Cath Crinna.[2]

The fortunes of the historical Ciannachta can to an extent be traced via the Irish annals.[3] They are first recorded sub anno 535 when they were defeated in battle at Luachair Mór (between the rivers Nanny and Boyne), near Duleek, by Túathal Máelgarb.

The Ciannachta kept their independence into the ninth century. However, the battle of Imblech Pich (Emlach, near Kells) in 688 was an important defeat, inflicted upon them by King Niall mac Cernaigh, king of Brega. After this, they lost their independence south of the Boyne, and from this point on were referred to as Ard Ciannachta, reflecting their loss of territory in south-east Brega.

In 742 the Síl nÁedo Sláine king of North Brega, Conaing mac Amalgada, began using the title king of Ciannachta, the first of seven North Brega kings to do so. In time, the Uí Chonaing conquored and assimilated it into Brega, while retaining use of the title for themselves.

Following the death of Cellach (786), the indigenous Ciannachta never again attained the kingship of their own territory and their political ambitions seem to have been entirely focused on the kingdom of Fir Arda Ciannachta ... The political eclipse of Ciannachta Breg from mid-eighth century onwards may have resulted in members of that dynasty transferring their ambitions to the ecclesiastical sphere where one of their kindred, Conmael ua Loichene, took the abbacy of the same church [ Monasterboice ] in 733. Another member of the Ciannachta Breg, Ioseph ua Cernae, acceded to the abbacy of the same church in 790 ... Flann Mainistrech ... who died in 1056 is name in the Ciannachta Breg pedigree, as is his son, Echthigern ... who died in 1067.

Locations

Branches of the Ciannachta included:

Ciannachta Breg – found in Brega (between the Liffey and the Boyne), later conquered by the Síl nÁedo Sláine

Origin of the name

Admitting that there are significant questions surrounding the tribal name Ciannachta, David Sproule points out that the -acht suffix was used to form only three population-group names in early Ireland, namely the Connachta, Eoganachta and Ciannachta.[5] He states that,

originally there was one powerful people whose name had that suffix and ... the other two names were formed and adopted in imitation of the first by peoples who wished to emulate them. The original can only have been the Connachta, whose power, position and prestige in the earliest part of the historical period are unquestionable and who loom large in prehistory as the traditional enemies of the Ulaid.

It does not seem that the word "Connacht" can originally have meant 'the descendants of Conn'; it may have meant 'headship' or 'supremacy' from "cond" or "conn", head, and later have been interpreted as meaning "the descendants of Conn", Conn Cetchathach being derived from the word "Connacht" rather than vice versa. ... the name "Eoganacht" and "Ciannacht" were formed in imitation ...

Paul Byrne accepts this hypothesis,[6] proposing the "conjecture that the source of the tribal name was the patron saint of the Ciannachta Breg, Cianan, the founder of Duleek. ... Cianan is, of course, a diminutive form of "Cian." Thus, the name Ciannachta may have been a combination of "Cian" and the suffix "-acht." One may surmise that an ambitious tribe (or grouping of tribes) of relatively insignificant origin based near the church of Duleek – possibly lay tenents of the monastery – decided to forge a new identity based on their adherence to the local founder. Thus they became the "Ciannachta" – 'the people of St Cianan.' fortuitously, the ancestor figure of their neighbours Gailenga and Luigni – Cian mac Ailella Auluimm – would have provided a suitably named ancestor figure when they later sought to construct a new pedigree for themselves."

Cianan was regarded as a very significant figure in very early Irish Christianity, his church at Duleek traditionally stated as the first stone church in Ireland. Cianan himself is reported in the Annals of Ulster as dying in 489, four years before Saint Patrick. No life is extant, but various anecdotes survive, particularly in the medieval commentary on the martyrology Félire Óengusso.[7]

The territorial extant of Ciannachta Breg prior to its conquest is uncertain, but believed to have been reasonably large.[8]

Byrnes, Michael (2000), "The Ard Ciannachta in Adomnan's "Vita Columbae": a reflection of Iona's attitude to the Sil nAeda Slaine in the late seventh century", in Smyth, Alfred P., Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History, and Literature in Honour of Francis John Byrne, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 127&ndash, 136, ISBN1-85182-489-8<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>